Weathering the 2008 economic downturn necessitated a change in approach to cashflow at Global Integration, when demand for the company's management development, leadership training and consultancy services fell by 40%.

Global Integration helps business leaders develop skills in matrix management (working across competing reporting lines and objectives), virtual teams (people working at different geographic sites) and global working (dealing with different time zones and cultures). Founded in 1994, its 300 international clients who have taken part in the company's training programmes include major multinationals such as SAP, Vodafone and Coca-Cola.

Hall says when the global downturn hit, training budgets were one of the first things to be cut. "The recession was pretty scary, it was hard to see the bottom of that cliff."

Global Integration's response was to establish a profit and loss centre for each consultant, which made personal contribution transparent and visible, and focused everyone on controlling costs.

"Consultancy is a very measurable job and it's easy to allocate cost and revenue," Hall says. "For each consultant we made an individual spreadsheet which showed the amount we needed to cover personal costs to keep them in the game, the contribution they would need to make to central costs like finances and marketing, and where the company starts to make a profit and bonus earnings begin."

Hall says everyone in the business now has a clear and visible understanding of the cost base and their contribution to it, and there was complete engagement in the new way of working. "For me personally, I think I hung on to the old way too much. There was a relief and appreciation when I admitted this."

Global Integration took a more conservative approach to forecasting and replaced traditional budgets with investment plans. "I genuinely don't believe in budgets," says Hall. "If there is a budget, people tend to spend it. In a small business like ours I think formal budgeting is counterproductive."

The company's focus on keeping fixed costs down meant profits were not hit, and spending could be increased on marketing. It stopped relying on the bank overdraft that had previously been used to smooth over expensive years.

"We normally set ourselves a target of six months' forward visibility on cash, and we prioritise the list of things we'd like to do once cash becomes available", Hall says.

A market survey allowed the company to identify that it was underpricing for its unique matrix management training, and an increase in cost brought in more revenue.

Hall says the lower fixed cost base and higher top line pricing has significantly increased profitability, with turnover levels higher than before the downturn. "For a lot of companies the downturn created an opportunity – a tremendous amount of fat and inefficiency was trimmed. It wasn't pleasant to go through but a lot of businesses - including us – came out of it much better."